Monthly Archives: December 2015

Stop and Smell the Roses

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Healthful

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We instinctively know them when we feel them.  Sensations of peace, wholeness, connectedness.  Those moments when we travel to that still, quiet place in our minds, a place where more and more healthcare professionals are now asking us to visit.  They ask this because there is some very solid science out there confirming that the mind can have a profound effect on wellness.

You see, in terms of human evolution, the body’s stress response is an excellent survival strategy for getting us through an acute crisis.  But as it turns out, it’s not such a great strategy when we leave it playing at low volume in the background for years.

Vascular disease, diabetes, stroke, immune suppression, and a myriad of other stress-related physical problems remind us that, even though we have put the nightmares of some of the most deadly diseases in history behind us, we now have another assortment of illnesses that can break us in new and different ways.

But it’s never too late to start to mend what’s broken.  Taking the first steps down the road to well-being is something each one of us can achieve.

THE BEAUTY OF PLAY

Okay, Stress, it’s time for you to meet your new playmate:  Creativity.

We are, all of us, capable of being creative.  Self-expression is a vital part of who we are…who YOU are.  Don’t you think it’s time that the real you — the one that’s still there, buried down deep underneath all that stress — came out to play?

For me, photography has a big role in such play.  It mobilizes me to seek out places I might not otherwise visit.  It slows me down and gives me permission to linger.   Sometimes it literally makes me stop and smell the roses.

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If you, too, like to photograph, go ahead and express yourself.  What do you want to say?  Do you want to bring out the essence, the “itness” of what you see?  Challenge yourself and think about different ways to do that.  Want to zero in on just one defining aspect?  Emphasize whatever feature is most important to you and hold it up for our inspection.  Fascinated by those simple, small moments that speak volumes about what it means to be human?  Go capture some.  They’re happening all around us.

No need for expensive equipment, if that’s not your thing.  I just use my iPhone, because there’s no denying the simple truth:  The best camera is the one you have with you.

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What ignites YOUR passion?  Only you know best those things that are nearest and dearest to you.  Allow yourself to take some time and explore them.  Seek out their beauty, if for no other reason than your own self-preservation.  Write, draw, sing, dance.  Allow your voice to be heard.

And take a good, long whiff of those roses.

 

Joy for a Generalist

13 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Museful

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What do you want to be when you grow up?

This can be a downright agonizing question for a generalist.  Tugged at by so many interests, choosing a single focus can mean leaving so much neglected and undiscovered.

I have always been drawn to both art and science.  But like many others, I’ve struggled to somehow choose between what appear to be two opposing disciplines.  Now, the more I learn, the clearer it becomes that these two are not at odds, after all.  That notion is far too simplistic.  They are really on a long continuum, each expressing a different way of approaching the same fundamental human questions and needs.

So I’ve made a choice NOT to choose.  And there may be no better time than the present to make that decision.

For we are at a turning point, entering into an era that promises an unprecedented rate of human progress, and hence, the need for equally speedy human adaptation.  Now, more than ever, we need the input of both artistic and scientific perspectives to help us move gracefully through such great paradigm shifts.  To form them into shapes that resonate with us and make us eager to embrace them.  Only in this way will we ever truly become one with our technology.

Art + Science = Beauty

I also believe that deep at their roots, motivating and uniting each discipline’s separate approach is our inherent appreciation of, and endless search for, beauty itself.  And though specific concepts of what constitutes beauty in art and science often differ in quality, they don’t differ in quantity.  Aesthetic ideas and motivations are abundant not only in our artistic creativity but also in our joy of scientific discovery, and both studies can be equally capable of evoking a powerful emotional response.

The late Richard Feynman, beloved and outspoken twentieth-century physicist, relates his own scientific appreciation of beauty with obvious passion during a famous BBC interview from 1981:

The more we learn about our world and ourselves, the more layers of beauty we find to enjoy.  That, in turn, drives us to uncover ever more layers.  They can be found everywhere and across all disciplines.  The thrill of this search is a vital part of what makes us human, of what gives our lives meaning.  It compels us to dream, experiment, and create.  It drives us to learn our purpose and our place among the stars.

Even those of us who may never decide exactly what we want to be when we grow up.